Torque: A Novella
Torque: Chapter 1

“But Uncle Torque, I HAVE to go on this camping trip! Todd is going too!” Kacy whined as she batted her doe eyes at me.

Kacy was my only niece. I loved her and still saw her as a baby wearing pink dresses and pigtails. “Who the fuck is this Toad, dude?”

“His name is Todd, and you shouldn’t say the F word, Uncle Torque.”

“Shit. Not like you haven’t heard the word fuck before. You’re only seventeen! Does your dad know you’re going on this so-called camping trip with dudes?”

“I’ll be a senior in high school and in three months I’ll be eighteen! My friend Trisha’s parents are going to chaperone. And yes, Mom and Dad know and they’re okay with it.” Kacy stood behind the counter of my bike shop pouting with her arms folded—just like the typical teenager.

Bargaining with a teenager who’s filled with raging hormones was like bashing your head against a brick wall, over and over again.

I shook my head and cracked my knuckles. “Well, this Toad better keep his hands to himself, or he won’t have any hands or a dick to play with, for that matter!”

Kacy’s brows shot up as her jaw dropped. “Wow! There is just no filter with you! Please? Can I clock out early tomorrow?”

“What time?”

“Noon?”

I grumbled, “Okay. But you clock in at eight a.m. sharp! Understand, Kacy?”

She jumped, wrapping her arms around me. “Thank you, Uncle Torque! You’re the coolest boss ever!”

“And the coolest uncle ever, too.” Just then the sound of Harley pipes drew my attention to the front window of my bike shop.

I knew it was a Sportster just by the sound of the pipes. Then I saw the chick’s legs. Drop-dead, sexy legs straddling the bike. “Holy. Fuck.” I moved away from Kacy, stepping up to the window.

My eyes were fixated on those gorgeous legs, to the faded jean shorts and delectable ass. She wore black laced-up ankle boots and a thick long ponytail of jet-black hair. She parked the bike, and when she swung her leg over to climb off, I got a good view of the bodacious cleavage she sported in a tight purple tank top.

“Go do work, Kacy,” I grumbled as my legs moved and led me outside to greet the raven-haired biker chick.

She pulled off her helmet as I managed to keep my tongue in my mouth. “It’s not a good idea to wear shorts like those on a bike, darlin’. They’re a distraction and a hazard to other drivers.”

She drew her shades up on her head. “I didn’t pull in here to get your advice on what I wear or not wear.” She nodded to the bike. “I need some repair work done for my ride.”

My eyes steered from her to the bike, and man did it need some work!

The side mirrors were bashed out and bent; one side of the red peanut tank was dented and scratched up, along with the front and back fenders. And the seat had tears in it, too.

“Looks like someone doesn’t like you too much. But better the bike took a beating and not you.” Images of this gorgeous woman being beaten up as much as the bike made my blood pressure spike and my shoulders tense up.

She jutted out her hip, folding her arms, which only pushed her tits up more to bulge out the top of her tank, and I couldn’t help but stare.

She snapped her fingers, “Uh… My eyes are up here, big boy.”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah.” I offered my hand. “I’m Torque, owner and manager of this here Hardcore Cycles.”

My hand looked like a fucking bear paw when she clasped it with hers. “Hi, I’m Ronnie.” Then she let go. “So, you’re the guy I need to talk to, then.”

Yes, you sure do darlin’…

“I’ll get your bike all pretty for you again, Ronnie. Follow me inside, and I’ll write up a service ticket and get you on the shop’s schedule.”

As she followed me back in, my brat niece took a look at Ronnie and shook her head. I mouthed the word what to her. She just rolled her eyes and went back to stocking a shelf with engine oil cans. Kacy knew I was a sucker for a pair of nice legs, and Ronnie had a perfect pair—the best I’d ever seen.

I walked around the service counter and pulled up the calendar on the computer. Ronnie leaned down, planting her elbows on the counter, squeezing those tits of hers into a deep crevice of cleavage. I had to shift my stance, trying to focus on the computer to make sure my dick didn’t reveal the semi hard-on it sported.

I cleared my throat. “It’ll be a few days for parts to get delivered once I put the order in. Then labor. I can have your bike ready for you by the end of next week.”

Ronnie groaned. “That’s my only ride to get me to and from work. What am I going to do!” She ran a hand through her dark locks biting her lower lip. My dick jumped. “Goddamn him!”

“Who’s him? The asshole that did all that damage to your bike?”

“Yes. He’s my boyfriend. I mean ex-boyfriend. He’s not too happy that I broke it off.”

The sad and fearful look in her eyes kicked in my primal instinct to protect this woman any way I possibly could.

“Has he threatened you?”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and shook her head. “No. He just needs time to let it sink in that it’s over between us.”

“Maybe I can help. Wait here.” I grabbed a set of keys off the wall hook and went out the back door. I climbed on a purple Kawasaki Ninja that matched the set of keys. I started it up, shifted, and rode it around the shop and pulled up next to Ronnie’s Sportster.

Her brows shot up as she walked out “What’s this?”

“It’s a used bike a buddy of mine sold me. It belonged to his ex-girlfriend, and he didn’t want it anymore. It’s not fancy, but it can get you to work while your Sporty gets fixed.”

She folded her arms again, her eyes squinting at me. “How much will this cost me on top of the repairs?”

“Nothing.”

“Very original, Torque. First, it’s nothing, then it’s a debt I’ll need to pay with my lady parts.” She pulled out a phone from the back pocket of those shorts of hers. “No thanks. I’ll just Uber my way around.”

I snatched her hand, giving her the bike keys. “No, Ronnie. I insist. Really, you don’t owe me extra for it. This bike is just sitting behind my shop just wanting to be ridden.”

She took the keys and smiled, making my heart pound hard in my chest. “Thanks, Torque. I’ll tell you what, swing by the Frisco Cantina. I’m a bartender there, and I’ll buy you a drink, or two.”

“Sounds like a plan, Ronnie.”

She shoved the phone back in her pocket and climbed on the Ninja, giving me a nice view of her hot-as-fuck ass again!

Skully walked out of the garage and stood next to me as Ronnie rode out of the parking lot. He was my best bike mechanic and a longtime good friend of mine. He got in a bad jam with his old club, the Hell Hounds MC, and almost got his brains bashed in. But he made it out of that club alive and was a now a patched-in member of the Chaos Kings MC and lives with his ol’ lady, Tanya, and his little boy, Jake.

He whistled. “Damn, what that girl is wearing is a distraction to other drivers!”

My eyes were glued to Ronnie as she shifted and twisted the throttle on the Ninja. “That’s what I told her, bro!”